Interpersonal Relationships

Interpersonal relationship refers to the association that exists between two or more people due to various factors. Some of these factors may be social and times they may be influenced by circumstances such as work, law and policies, among others. These relationships can be developed from different people such as friends, a parent and their child, unrelated people, people working in the same organization among others. People in an interpersonal relationship share emotions and they keep on coming back for each other due to their interdependence. They influence each others thoughts and feelings and at times engage in similar activities together. Anything that affects the binding factor between the two affects the relationship. The paper will examine the interpersonal relationship between Jack Bauer, who is the starring in the series movie 24, and Audrey Raines who is one of the advisors to the Secretary of Defense, Heller. Heller is also Audrey’s father and Jack is among the key security personnel for Secretary Heller. Jack and Audrey are romantically involved to each other and when terrorists kidnap Heller and Audrey, Jack risks his life to save them. Jack is reinstated to Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) to aid in tracking the terrorists who possessed dangerous weapons (He worked there before being sacked). In the course of following the terrorists who were in a mission to attack the US, several things are discovered. Raines being in relationship with Bauer and Heller was at the center of everything. Jack meets Paul, Raines’ ex-husband who later saves his life and gets shot himself. Paul later succumbed to the shot after Jack forced the doctors attending him to abandon him and attend to Mr. Lee from the Chinese counsel who he believed had information that would lead to them stopping the bombings that were executed by Habib Marwan. Audrey is very bitter with this because she had resolved to go back to Paul and leave Jack. Later, Jack stages his death to avoid capture by the Chinese government for the death of their counsel during an attack that was led by Jack Bauer.

Socio-economic and environmental conditions help people to determine the people they would have interpersonal relationships with (Dwyer, 2000). This is because for people to have come close enough to each other for an interpersonal relationship there has to be some unifying factors such as economic ability, sex, among others (Cushman & Cahn, 1985). Once in such a relationship, people start focusing their companions as part of their lives and every deed they do, affects most of the persons who are close to them. This therefore compels some people to engage in difficult issues for the sake of their relations. These issues may be difficult and people lose lives as they fight for the welfare of their relations (Firestone & Catlett, 2009). The interrelations are the major factor that interweaves the social fabric. However, the strength of this fabric gets hurt by other stronger factors such as the prevailing economic hardships and workplace distances (John, Harvey & Pauwels, 2009). This has continually, especially in the recent years, degraded the society and family lives. Once the family relations, whether between children and parents or between parents) has been hurt, the society’s sustainability is in jeopardy.

Levinger (1983) developed a relationship model that considered the lifespan of a natural interpersonal relationship. It stars with acquaintance where people start to like each other and interacting more often. This is followed by a build up where trust between the individuals starts to develop as their backgrounds determine whether the relationship would continue or not. After this, continuation stage follows where commitment to indefinite time of togetherness is developed. A sustainable relationship is based at this stage. The next stage is deterioration where boredom and resentment sets in. This may lead o the final stage of termination. Termination is fuelled by death in a healthy relationship or separation caused by factors that lead to deterioration.

Methods

The main method for obtaining information was watching the TV series movie 24, specifically season 4 which is featured in the paper. Keen interest was taken on the points where Jack and Audrey made communication through body language or using any other means to express their feelings about each other. Some of the times that they spent together will be evaluated and discussed in order to determine what their relationship meant to either or both of them.

Discussion

When Bauer softly holds Audrey at the back at the prequel of the season, Audrey is shocked since she did not expect Jack. They hold each other for a moment then without a word starts to romance and we are compelled to believe they had sex. There was the body language that they used to communicate through and they both felt what each other needed.

People that one is attached to by interpersonal relationships can lead to their involvement in incredible risks (Firestone & Catlett, 2009). The bond created may be so strong that they can always feel each others emotions and their wants. The beginning of the season sees the kidnapping of Heller and Audrey. Jack decides to track Audrey and her father alone since Driscoll; the CTU head had refused to cooperate with him. He moves into the enemies’ territory alone. The president at the time has issued an order to blow up the location of the terrorists and ensure that the capture and ‘trial’ that the terrorists intended to have of Heller was not aired. Despite Jack being warned of this, he progresses into the camp and singlehandedly rescues Heller and his daughter. This is an illustration that shows how far the interpersonal relationships can prompt someone to take risks. The president and his advisors had rendered Heller and his daughter less important than the shame the country would go through if their ‘trial’ was carried out. The CTU had agreed to the idea and everyone had agreed to the execution of Heller and his daughter. However, Jack singlehandedly believed in saving them by taking the risk of being killed by the terrorists and the bombs from the US army as ordered by the president. He does all this for Audrey and her father due to their relationship.

During Audrey and Heller’s capture, Audrey had noted a familiar face among the terrorists and had identified that she had seen it in a certain mall. Audrey and Jack sets out to the mall to identify the familiar face from the security cameras. Before their departure Jack takes his time and explains softly what an override is to Audrey. He starkly denies Audrey’s involvement in the journey to the mall citing ‘what she had gone through that day’. Audrey believes that it was her job and she was obliged to go along with Jack no matter what happened. Jack is afraid that the trip was a dangerous one and could not risk taking her with him. However, he later agrees and they set out to the mall. They are attacked and again Jack risks his life for her. This shows that the relationships can compel one to disallow the other from performing their duties. Had Audrey not been audacious and convincing enough, Jack would not have accepted her in his trip to the mall. Further, taking time to explain to her what an override was at the time of haste was a show of softness to each other. Jack was a tough man and would never afford to waste any time but he took time to explain to her. Relationships can therefore be said to shift focus from other important things to the other person (Cushman & Cahn, 1985.

Though Audrey was involved at all levels of romance with Jack, she has never encountered the other side of Jack. He is a ruthless and would inflict any form of pain through torture whenever he needed information. At first, the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) believed that Paul was a terrorist and they used Audrey as the bait to hold Paul in a hotel. They believed that this would work since Paul loved Audrey despite their separation. This worked and since Paul was not a terrorist, Jack interrogated him and had to use force on Paul to determine that whatever he was saying was true. Jack had to do this in Audrey’s presence and this was a heartbreaking moment for Audrey since she knew Jack as a gentle and caring man. She started to fear him when she saw him at work. This means that different situations can lead to different situations in the interrelationships between persons (Cushman & Cahn, 1985). This is proved by the negative attitude that Audrey holds against Jack when she witnesses him torturing Paul. Therefore, interpersonal relationship can change from the social place that people meet most, to their places of work. This is because the place of work may not support the kind of feelings that two or more people initially held about each other. At home, Audrey deeply loved Jack and they were considering telling Secretary Heller, Audrey’s father about their relationship. After the incidence at the hotel however, she disliked Jack, without an understanding that Jack was doing his job. During another incidence, Raines dies because Jack chooses to save Lee Jong’s life at the expense of Paul’s since there was only one surgeon. Audrey cannot believe how cruel, insensitive and heart less Jack was but the nature of the job demanded that he took the difficult choices. Audrey cannot forgive Jack and holds him responsible for Paul’s death.

Finally, when Tony Almeida, Jack’s old friend and colleague in CTU, his wife Michelle and CTU Intel Chloe O’Brien stage Jack’s death to avoid his apprehension by the Chinese government due to the killing of their consul, Audrey can not believe that she has lost the two men who she loved on the same day. She still loved Jack despite the animality she had discovered in Jack. She sobs and is grieved. This shows that once the relationship has grown, there is little chance that it would ever go. Raines had a romantic relationship with Paul and Jack and their deaths deeply shake her. On the other hand, Jack decides not to tell her of the plot in order to protect her from being questioned by anyone from the Chinese consul. He decides to go into darkness alone. This shows that there are some things that can make one forego the relationship and quit without notifying their partner. This simply means that interpersonal relationships may not be the strongest bonds that bind humankind (John, Harvey & Pauwels, 2009).